The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo (Serbo-Croatian: Социјалистичка Аутономна Покрајина Косово/Socijalistička Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo, Albanian: Krahina Socialiste Autonome e Kosovës; often abbreviated SAP Kosovo), comprising the Kosovo region, was one of the two autonomous provinces of Serbia within Yugoslavia (the other being Vojvodina), between 1945 and 1990.

Between 1945 and 1963 it was officially named the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija,[1] and enjoyed a level of self-government lower than the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. In 1963, it was granted the same level of autonomy as Vojvodina, and accordingly to that official name was changed to Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In 1968, the term "Metohija" was dropped,[2] and the prefix "Socialist" was added,[3] changing the official name of the province to Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo. In 1974, both autonomous provinces (Vojvodina and Kosovo) were granted significantly increased level of autonomy. In 1989, that level of autonomy was reduced. In 1990, the term "Metohija" was reinserted into provincial name,[4] and the term "Socialist" was finally dropped. From that point, official name of the province was again: Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, as previously between 1963 and 1968.

During the interwar period, the constitutional status of the region Kosovo within Yugoslavia was unresolved. At the time that Serbia annexed Kosovo (in 1912–1913), the 1903 constitution was still in force. This constitution required a Grand National Assembly before Serbia's borders could be expanded to include Kosovo; but no such Grand National Assembly was ever held. Constitutionally, Kosovo should not have become part of the Kingdom of Serbia. It was initially ruled by decree.[5][6] Serbian political parties, and the army, could not agree on how to govern the newly conquered territories; eventually this was solved by a royal decree.[7]

In 1944, Tito had written that it "will obtain a broader autonomy, and the question of which federal unit they are joined to will depend on the people themselves, through their representatives" although in practice decision making was centralised and undemocratic.[8] There were various proposals to join Kosovo to other areas (even to Albania) but in 1945 it was decided to join Kosovo to Serbia. However, one piece of the former Kosovo Vilayet was given to the new Yugoslav republic of Macedonia (including the former capital Skopje), whilst another part had passed to Montenegro (mainly Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje and Rožaje), also a new entity. In July 1945, a "Resolution for the annexation of Kosovo–Metohija to federal Serbia" was passed by Kosovo's "Regional People's Council".[9]

In principle, Albanian became an official language; but little changed in practice as most judges and government officials were Slavs. In the immediate post-war years there was a certain amount of cooperation with the Albanian government, which even sent a few Albanian-speaking teachers to Kosovo.

From 1945 to 1963, it was the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbo-Croatian: Аутономна Косовско-Метохијска Област/Autonomna Kosovsko-Metohijska Oblast), which was a lower level of autonomy than Vojvodina.[1]

Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija was officially created on September 3rd, 1945.[10] After the break with the Cominform in 1948, Yugoslavia tightened certain policies, including stricter collectivisation. This led to serious reductions in grain production in Kosovo; there were food shortages across Yugoslavia. In parallel with this, the Albanian government began to criticise Yugoslav rule over Kosovo; the Yugoslav government responded with crackdowns on the local population, in search of "traitors" and "fifth columnists", although the earliest underground pro-Tirana group was not founded until the early 1960s.[11]

In the mid–1950s, the Assembly of PR Serbia decided that the Leposavić municipality (187 km2) be ceded to Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija, after requests by the Kosovo leadership.[12] It had up until then been part of the Kraljevo srez, of which the population was wholly Serb.[12] After this, the number of Serbs drastically fell.[12] In 1959, Leposavić was incorporated into the province.[13][14]

The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbo-Croatian: Аутономна Покрајина Косово и Метохија/Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo i Metohija, Albanian: Territori Autonom i Kosovës dhe Metohisë) was the name used from 1963 to 1968, when the term "Metohija" was dropped,[2] and the prefix "Socialist" was added.[3]

Kosovo officially became an autonomous province in 1963, after the constitutional reforms, and its position was equalized with the status of Vojvodina.[10] Tensions between ethnic Albanians and the Yugoslav and Serbian governments were significant, not only due to national tensions but also due to political ideological concerns, especially regarding relations with neighbouring Albania.[15] Harsh repressive measures were imposed on Kosovo Albanians due to suspicions that they there were sympathisers of the Stalinist policies of Albania's Enver Hoxha.[15] In 1956, a show trial in Priština was held in which multiple Albanian Communists of Kosovo were convicted of being infiltrators from Albania and were given long prison sentences.[15] High-ranking Serbian communist official Aleksandar Ranković sought to secure the position of the Serbs in Kosovo and gave them dominance in Kosovo's nomenklatura.[16]

Islam in Kosovo at this time was repressed and both Albanians and Muslim Slavs were encouraged to declare themselves to be Turkish and emigrate to Turkey.[15] At the same time Serbs and Montenegrins dominated the government, security forces, and industrial employment in Kosovo.[15] Albanians resented these conditions and protested against them in the late 1960s, accusing the actions taken by authorities in Kosovo as being colonialist, as well as demanding that Kosovo be made a republic, or declaring support for Albania.[15]

The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo (Serbo-Croatian: Социјалистичка Аутономна Покрајина Косово/Socijalistička Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo) was the name used from 1968, when the prefix "Socialist" was added,[3] and the term "Metohija" was dropped.[2] The name Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo was officially used until 1990, when the term "Metohija" was reinserted into the official name,[4] and the prefix "Socialist" was dropped.

Autonomy of Kosovo was significantly strengthened in 1968, as a result of major political changes in Yugoslavia. After the earlier ouster of Ranković in 1966, the agenda of pro-decentralisation reformers in Yugoslavia, especially from Slovenia and Croatia succeeded in the 1968 in attaining significant constitutional decentralisation of powers, creating substantial autonomy in both Kosovo and Vojvodina, and recognising a Muslim Yugoslav nationality.[17] As a result of these reforms, there was a massive overhaul of Kosovo's nomenklatura and police, that shifted from being Serb-dominated to ethnic Albanian-dominated through firing Serbs in large scale.[17] Further concessions were made to the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo in response to unrest, including the creation of the University of Pristina as an Albanian language institution.[17] These changes created widespread fear amongst Serbs that they were being made second-class citizens in Yugoslavia by these changes.[18]

The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo received more autonomy within Serbia and Yugoslavia by constitutional reform in 1974. In the new constitutions of Yugoslavia and Serbia, adopted during the reform of 1974, Kosovo was granted major autonomy, allowing it to have not only its own administration and assembly, but also a substantial constitutional, legislative and judicial autonomy.[19]

Per the Constitutions of SFR Yugoslavia and SR Serbia, SAP Kosovo also gained its own Constitution. The Province of Kosovo gained the highest officials, most notably Presidency and Government, and gained a seat in the Federal Presidium of Yugoslavia (including veto power on the federal level) which equated it to the states of SR Serbia.[citation needed]

The local Albanian-dominated ruling class had been asking for recognition of Kosovo as a parallel republic to Serbia within the Federation, and after Josip Broz Tito’s death in 1980, the demands were renewed.[citation needed] In March 1981, Albanian students started the 1981 protests in Kosovo, where a social protest turned into violent mass riots with nationalist demands across the province, which the Yugoslav authorities contained with force. Emigration of non-Albanians increased and ethnic tensions between Albanians and non-Albanians greatly increased, with violent inner-attacks, especially aimed at the Yugoslavian officials and representatives of authority.[citation needed]

In 1988 and 1989, Serbian authorities engaged in a series of moves known as the anti-bureaucratic revolution, which resulted in the sacking of province leadership in November 1988 and a significant reduction of autonomy of Kosovo in March 1989.[10]

On 28 June 1989, Milošević led a mass celebration of the 600th anniversary of a 1389 Battle of Kosovo. Milošević's Gazimestan speech, which marked the beginning of his political prominence, was an important part of the events that contributed to the ongoing crisis in Kosovo. The ensuing Serbian nationalist movement was also a contributing factor to the Yugoslav Wars.